Martin Klimánek

Topographic Exposure and its Practical Applications

Topographic Exposure and its Practical Applications Topographic exposure is a topographic characteristic representing a degree of protection by a surrounding topography of a certain site. Detailed knowledge of topographic exposure has broad use in a number of applications ranging from studying forest wind damage through research on snow storage dynamics to optimisation in positioning wind power stations. This paper describes a method for creation of topographic exposure on the basis of a digital elevation model (DEM) using GIS. In combination with other climatic data on wind direction and speed, this factor is used to define the degree of terrain ventilation. Low terrain ventilation has, among other things, a significant influence on the creation of valley inversions and related vegetation zoning inversions. By combining the degree of terrain ventilation with DEM and forest vegetation zones in the area of the Training Forest Enterprise Křtiny, a clear relationship between the influence of topographic exposure, or terrain ventilation, and the creation of the vegetation zoning inversion was determined.

Identification and typology of Czech post-industrial landscapes on national level using GIS and publicly accessed geodatabases

Abstract The post-industrial landscape (PIL) is a generally accepted phenomenon of the present world. Its features are fossil in comparison to those ones in operating industrial landscapes. The required knowledge about the position, size, shape and type of PIL will help decision makers plan PIL future. The paper deals with the selection of identification features of PILs. Applicable data must be related to four landscape structures: natural, economic (land use), social (human) and spiritual. Present Czech geodatabases contain sufficient quantity and quality of data they can be interpreted as source of PIL identification criteria. GIS technology was applied for such data collection, geometric and format pre-processing, thematic reclassification and final processing. Using selected identification and classification criteria, 105 PILs were identified on the Territory of Czech Republic and classified into individual types. A SWOT analysis of results was carried out to identify the reliability level of data and the data processing. The identified PILs represent the primary results generally obtained in the Czech Republic. GIS approach allows repeated procedures elsewhere in EU member states because of some similarity of available geodatabases. Of course, an improvement of classification procedure depends on the real situation in each country.

Vascular plant biodiversity of floodplain forest geobiocoenosis in Lower Morava river Basin (forest district Tvrdonice), Czech Republic

ABSTRACT This paper presents an evaluation of full-area floristic mapping of floodplain forest in Tvrdonice forest district (Židlochovice Forest Enterprise) based on a single forest stand inventory. The study area encompasses 2,200 ha of forests, where 769 segments were inventoried, and 46,886 single records about presence of vascular plant species were catalogued. We found 612 species (incl. subspecies and hybrids), out of which 514 were herbs, 98 were woody plants, 113 were endangered species and 170 were adventive species. The average area of a segment is 2.86 ha. The mean number of species per segment is 60.97 in a range of 4-151.

Delineation of post-industrial landscapes of the Upper Silesian corridor in the Basin of Ostrava

Abstract The post-industrial landscapes represent a legacy of the industrial revolution. There have been gradually formed numerous enterprises of various industry branches on the territory between Czech-Polish border in the North and Moravian-Silesian Beskydes Mts. (a part of Carpathians) in the South (the western border follows the foothills of Hercynian Bohemian Highlands). In the given study, there are demonstrated examples of the post-industrial landscape in the concerned area of Ostrava, which is a part of the so called Upper Silesian industrial corridor that is intensively linking industrialized region of Upper Silesia in Poland and the Czech Republic with other developed regions of Europe to southwest through the Moravian Gate to the Danube region. This paper demonstrates the procedure for defining the post-industrial landscapes in general, their classification and standardization using the available data sources and GIS technology. For the processing the data of the deployment of brownfields, contaminated sites, industrial constructions of architectural heritage, mining points and areas, human made landforms, industrial and landfill sites etc. were used. They document the genesis, the territorial shape and the geographic position of the post-industrial landscape in the study region. In the concerned area of Ostrava four “rural” post-industrial landscapes were identified and classified into three different genetic types. This paper also presents a methodology for identifying, mapping and classification of post-industrial landscapes on the basis of publicly available and state-managed databases.

Geospatial Infrastructure for European Union Sustainable Development

There is a general understanding that spatial data are essential for many different analyses—from purely environmental examples such as weather modelling to cost analysis calculations for logistics. All developed countries have created national agencies that are focused on spatial data collection and maintenance. A well-known example is the USGS (US Global Survey). Corresponding agencies can be observed in the European Union (EU) countries: The Dutch National SDI; the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre; the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy in Germany, etc. For nearly a decade, within the EU, there has been discussion regarding unified geospatial infrastructure that allows seamlessly sharing spatial data from different countries. The EU countries have made significant progress in recent years thanks to the INSPIRE directive that created a basis for spatial data publishing. Currently, several important questions must be answered: What is the purpose of such a complex infrastructure? How it can be used? How it should be further developed?